Rochester’s diverse, changing 19th Ward

Baiv Alibrahim works the counter at Sherwood Mini Mart, his family’s local convenience store on Chili Avenue, one of the many small shops that can be found along a busy street in the 19th Ward. He’s lived in the United States since immigrating here from Iraq as a child.

Living in the 19th Ward has given the Alibrahim family the opportunity to find and cultivate a home for themselves in Rochester.

“When I first came here, I didn’t speak any English,” he adds. “It’s really nice meeting people around here, because you can build a relationship with the community.”

This article, the first in a series on the 19th Ward, is part of the Rochester Beacon’s From the Ground Up project.

As one of Rochester’s largest neighborhoods, the 19th Ward’s history dates to the 1800s, expanding from an initial trading settlement for lumber and grain, according to the University of Rochester’s Digitizing Rochester’s Religions. 

With the construction of the Erie Canal and feeder canal that diverted river traffic away from the area, it suffered a half-century decline before expansion of the city toward the end of the 19th century brought new growth as schools, religious institutions, and a diverse community of residents began to form. The area, once known as Castletown, became the city’s 19th Ward in 1902.

Residents like Alibrahim say their neighborhood community is what makes the city home for them.

“People from outside that don’t live in the community, they think, ‘these guys are just a bunch of weirdos,'” he explains. “When they start meeting the people, (they have) a different perspective on the people.”

The 19th Ward has both walkable, dense neighborhoods and busier streets like Chili Avenue, Thurston Road, and Genesee Street, lined with smaller commercial and mixed-use buildings that boast a variety of small businesses. The area is bordered by West Avenue to the north, Genesee Street to the east, Scottsville Road to the south, and the Erie Canal to the west.

While the area is primarily residential, mixed-use designations and select commercial districts allow owners to convert their residential properties—most commonly detached row buildings—into small businesses. Those properties, at around one-tenth of an acre each, have seen both an increase in value and an uptick in sales over the last decade.

Those who own businesses in the 19th Ward—from convenience and auto service shops to beauty supply stores and ethnic eateries—say the neighborhood’s community and opportunities to generate wealth give them a real chance to build a life there.

Millenium Deli is a family-owned deli and corner store near the intersection of Genesee Street and Congress Avenue, where Mike, a Yemeni immigrant who declined the use of his full name, has operated the store for over 20 years.

The opportunity to start a small business has given him and his family the ability to both connect with and provide for their neighborhood, cultivating relationships with customers who frequent the store regularly. 

“You can do better (here),” he says about his business. “Back home, even if you went to college (and) have good degrees at the end, it’s not a job (available).”

Mike’s history as a small business owner has also encompassed a series of socioeconomic changes brought forth by investments in the 19th Ward by the University of Rochester.

The cross streets along the Genesee River have seen vast investments in student housing since the university built the Riverview Apartments in 2008. In late 2021, the university purchased the Brooks Crossing Apartments to expand student housing.

Today, both the university and city offer homeownership programs to eligible individuals looking to purchase their first home in Rochester. Those investments have played a role in significant shifts across the 19th Ward’s demographics in education status and household income.

“It’s very nice, especially in this area,” Mike says. “Every day, new faces… (It’s all) life.”

Despite these shifts, socioeconomic diversity has long been a hallmark of the 19th Ward. It boasts one of the nation’s oldest neighborhood associations, with a history of resistance to the effects of redlining and racial disinvestment. 

For those who have chosen to plant their roots in Rochester, the 19th Ward brings a sense of close community formed through a variety of faces and stories that make the neighborhood home. Though challenges may arise, they say, they enjoy what the area has to offer—and what they can offer to it.

“You just (have to) meet people,” Alibrahim says. “There’s always going to be some people that are negative, in a way … the more I explored the area, the more I found people of my own.”

Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.

The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].